Fig. 2

CDDO-EA increases the transcription of Nrf2 and HO-1 in the brains of mice infected with malaria parasites, whereas artemisinin inhibit Nrf2 and HO-1 expression in murine brains and in human PBMCs. CDDO-EA was administered at 200 μmol/kg, and ART at 5 mg/kg on day 4 post-infection, with 17–22 mice per group, data combined from two independent studies. a CDDO-EA mono (p = 0.030) and adjunctive treatment (p < 0.0001) significantly increases Nrf2 expression in the brains of malaria-infected mice (Kruskal–Wallis test with Dunn’s correction, respectively). A trend for decreasing Nrf2 expression with artesunate monotherapy was observed. b CDDO-EA monotherapy significantly increases levels of HO-1 transcripts (p = 0.007 Kruskal–Wallis test with Dunn’s correction). Artesunate monotherapy results in significantly reduced expression of HO-1 (p = 0.002, Kruskal–Wallis test with Dunn’s correction). c DHA (1 μM), the active component of all artemisinins significantly reduces the expression of both Nrf2 and HO-1 in human PBMCs (p = 0.035, < 0.0001, t test, respectively). Experiments were performed in triplicate